My wife and I just returned last night from a long, though wonderful, week in Chicago. I was there taking a class on preaching at Moody Theological Seminary, along with ten other students all eager to serve the Lord in the ministry of the Word.
The highlight of the week was preaching on James 4:11-12 before my fellow students. While there is obviously stress involved in prepping for and delivering a message that will be evaluated by your peers (not to mention by your professor), the experience is overwhelmingly positive in nature and incredibly educational. In particular, the following "lessons" I found helpful, so helpful I thought I'd pass them along.
1. We preach before God.
It is a terrifying thing to know that every eye in the room is literally filling out an evaluation form as you preach. Everything about your sermon, from introduction to conclusion, exegesis to eye contact, your fellow students and teacher are giving you a score on. All of this equals one thing: pressure.
Ultimately, however, standing before your peers reminds you that one day you will stand before the Lord himself, who will ask us to give an account for each word we've ever uttered, every sermon we've ever preached. Surely this is the greater motivation for excellence in exposition.
2. We preach before humans.
We preach before God. But we also preach before and to flesh and blood. One of the lessons I learned on this point was the importance of clarity in preaching. This applies not only to our words, but also to body language. Everything in the pulpit either helps clarify our message or obscure it. For instance, I learned of myself that I tend to both pace and tap the tips of my fingers together ("spider fingers") as I preach, something others found distracting. While painful to find out, such things are necessary to learn as I think about communicating the Word to others. Of course, we don't want to take this too far- some preachers are overly self-conscious of the way they are "coming off" to others. But this doesn't mean we don't strive for clarity in every sense.
3. We preach in real life.
I was tempted to think that since I would be away from work and home, preparing for my message would come easier for me than if I had been in my "normal" routine. But real life follows us everywhere. Driving an hour into the city each way, each day, through Chicago traffic proved exhausting. As did living out of a hotel room. Focus came hard. It was a good reminder that preaching never happens under sterile conditions- life is messy. Even on the very morning of my message, on the way into the city, my wife and I saw what appeared to be an awful motorcycle accident just outside our hotel. Any hope of concentrating after that was shot. But, in the end, God is gracious and gives all that is necessary to get his Word out.
4. We preach imperfectly.
My preaching, ultimately, stinks. Others may not think so (necessarily), but I know the truth. I know where I messed up, lost track, and didn't accurately communicate what I wanted to say. I further know that even if I had hit all my points perfectly according to plan, nothing I could have come up with could do justice to the glory of God's Word- I will always fall short of its purity. The treasure is indeed in clay pots, the message is uttered through faltering lips. And yet, God is pleased to use it. The wonder of all wonders is that the Lord condescends to work with such insufficient tools, and our words...in some inexplicable way...become his. How great a God we serve!
